34: TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



The pig voids a larger quantity of urine than any other 

 domestic animal The manure from fattening hogs is 

 very valuable, but it contains a peculiar volatile sub- 

 stance which gives to roots and bulbs to which it is ap- 

 plied a disagreeable taste. Hog-pens should be liberally 

 supplied with absorbents. 



SHEEP MANURE 



contains less vegetable fibre than that of cattle, and may 

 be classed with hog manure; but the nitrogenous matter 

 being more abundant, it is a heating manure when 

 piled and moistened. If penned, one sheep can ma- 

 nuiv ten and a half feet square in a night. It is too 

 rich in ammonia to be allowed to come in direct contact 

 with seeds or the roots of plants, and should be composted 

 or mixed with the soil. 



POULTRY MANURE. 



The dung of all domestic fowls and birds generally has 

 marked manurial properties on account of the large 

 amounts of ammonia and phosphate it contains. Like 

 sheep manure, Peruvian guano and all other fertilizers 

 rich in ammonia, it should not, in its fresh, undiluted 

 state, be permitted to come in immediate contact with 

 the roots of plants, nor with the seed. The floors of the 

 poultry-houses should be strown with finely powdered 

 muck or woods-earth and land plaster, to fix the ammonia 

 and to purify the atmosphere. Subsequently the manure 

 should be composted before being applied to the field. 



PERUVIAN GUANO. 



The Peruvian, the other South American and the Afri- 

 can guanos being the accumulated dung of sea-birds which 



